Austria surprised everyone yesterday, myself included, and proved that they just might be worthy of participating in this competition after all. At the same time, you never really got the feeling that they were going to score. They were able to get their crosses into the box time and time again, especially down the right side, but their strikers were M.I.A., were they even on the field? On the other side of the coin, Croatia was a major disappointment. It was appropriate how the Croatian left and center backs both collapsed to the ground at the final whistle, absolutely exhausted. But let's not forget that a win is a win, and Croatia did what was required of them to get the three points. They still have the young and fiery Rakitic waiting in the wings too as an offensive weapon to call on. Winning ugly can be effective, just ask Greece.
In the other match Germany came out roaring and should have had a goal in the first few minutes if not for (not so) Super Mario Gomez's finishing. But they always looked to be in control and handled the Poles with relative ease. I thought it was a nice touch from Podolski not celebrating his goals because he's polish. I always thought him to be a little arrogant, but he sure knows what to do when he puts on that Germany shirt. 50 caps at his age is impressive.
I don't know if anyone agrees, but I think this group is shaping up eerily similar to group A. You've got your clear favorites who look to be in control: Germany Portugal. Their opponents and losers of the first game look to be the second best side of the group: Poland, Turkey. And if all goes according to plan, they will be playing for the final spot on their third match day with the respective two who had the good fortune of playing the weaker host nations on day 1: Czech Republic, Croatia.
I was pleasantly surprised by Group B, particularly Austria and Poland. It was a nice precursor into today, as this tournament excitement is mounting perfectly. Maybe today there will be a game where both teams score, something we haven't had yet.
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